combining different speaker

[JeffB]

I was recently given a little 212 Marshall cab. It has ORIGIN stencil sprayed in white on the grill. Origin is a death metal band so this cab is going to look spot on at the next local blues jam.

I opened the cab up to see what speakers were in side expecting to see g12b's or rocket 50s but found G12T-75's which I dont mind so much for somethings. So that was cool.

I did a google search on the 1922 cab to see if these were original speakers and found thread after thread on different guitar forums about speaker swaps, speaker combinations and mixing, X patterns etc. All cool stuff and interesting. But one question kept tapping me on the shoulder, "which speaker do you stick the mic on?"

If you choose one speaker for its tight lows but dont like its fizzy upper mids and choose another for its smooth mids and top but dont like its flappy lows, where do you stick the mic? Any gig Ive ever done playing electric Ive only been given one mic for the amp. Which is fine I either use a 112 combo or a cab with 2 or 4 of the same speaker.

This isnt the forum I read any of the stuff on but its the only forum I post on so Im going to ask the question here:

If you have combo's or cabs with speaker combinations, which speaker do you mic up?

I gotsta know

[kbp810]

I don't think there is any single right answer - trial and error would probably be the best route.

 

On my 4x12, I seem to get the best sound mic'ing the EV, but then it seems like I miss some of what the V30's are bringing to the table... which is why for recording purposes I recently picked up that second condenser mic to try and add some of that back into the mix.

[111518]

The musical merchandise police order you to immediately cease and desist from rational thinking about gear. How are folks suppose to make a living selling expensive mixes of boutique speakers if you encourage their customers to think about the catch twenty-two that If they are playing for enough people to need to mic their cab/then the sound out front is going to come mostly from only one speaker?

 

I have a 2-12 closed back cab with v30s that I think mixes well with my single 12 or 15 combo's, but the sound guy (on the rare occasions we play out) always sticks the mic in the combo speaker. Why? Probably because he doesn't want to bend down too low ...bad back and all, like all sound guys have. So, one more factor that contributes to the fact that what gets heard out front probably has little to do with what I hear on stage, despite my continuing investment in more and more stuff. In fact, I've sort of been in a speaker switching phase ... This post might have spoiled my fun, but, all the swaps have been in my one speaker combo's, so, they are not only absolutely essential for me to achieve the tone I'm questing after, but they'll get the mic.

 

The case for my old 70s Strat had "Funky Moon" painted in huge letters, so I always called it my Funky Moon Strat ... enjoy your "Origin" cab.

[fxdx99]

All my amps are combos with one speaker (elderlyness and laziness criteria), but I do like to run dual amps sometimes (yeh, I know it's non-sensical given the laziness rule, but I did buy a dolly for transport...). But if sound guy, then am limited from the same issue. I'd probably put in on the upper mid/highs and flabby low speaker and I suppose you'll be eq'd to mid-heavy out front. So avoid the fizzy highs. Or... does it work to put the mic right between, live with a lower signal to the board and get a mix of both? Dunno.

[mars_hall]

I was recently given a little 212 Marshall cab. It has ORIGIN stencil sprayed in white on the grill. Origin is a death metal band so this cab is going to look spot on at the next local blues jam.

I opened the cab up to see what speakers were in side expecting to see g12b's or rocket 50s but found G12T-75's which I dont mind so much for somethings. So that was cool.

I did a google search on the 1922 cab to see if these were original speakers and found thread after thread on different guitar forums about speaker swaps, speaker combinations and mixing, X patterns etc. All cool stuff and interesting. But one question kept tapping me on the shoulder, "which speaker do you stick the mic on?"

If you choose one speaker for its tight lows but dont like its fizzy upper mids and choose another for its smooth mids and top but dont like its flappy lows, where do you stick the mic? Any gig Ive ever done playing electric Ive only been given one mic for the amp. Which is fine I either use a 112 combo or a cab with 2 or 4 of the same speaker.

This isnt the forum I read any of the stuff on but its the only forum I post on so Im going to ask the question here:

If you have combo's or cabs with speaker combinations, which speaker do you mic up?

I gotsta know

 

I've got to believe that double micing is the answer and you see more and more of this today. Then upon that, match the mic characteristics to the individual speaker curves to balance towards a flat response. If the speaker tends to produce towards the high end, the mic should be deficient in that portion of the curve. The idea is to balance the range before it goes into the board, that way the entire range can be adjusted at the board without over-compensation of any specific frequency. My two cents from intuition.

 

Keep one of the G12T-75s and match this in the cabinet with a Black Shadow Vintage 50W speakers. These were used in the 22 Caliber so they are probably available at the Music Park. These pairs are what I have in one of the cabinets in the picture and it produces a nice low-end that isn't shrill when cranked. In the other cabinet I usually drive simultaneously with the Mark III are EVM-12Ls and V30s, so in the end I get a full spectrum of sound using four matched pairs of speakers

[212Mavguy]

If I can, I'll never mic one of my amps again. I use the balanced line out feature on my Weber MASS attenuator.

[Jimbob]

I run two Glaswerks 1x12 cabs; one is an EV-loaded Thiele-aligned cab while the other is loaded with a Scholz Classic (aka Sugar Cone) in an oval open-back cab. I like to mic up both cabs if possible, but if I can only mic one, the EV gets the nod. While I'll certainly sacrifice some of the mids I get from the Scholz, the EV carries the broadest frequency range, even without considering the front ports of the Thiele cab.